A Dangerous Profession (1949)

Load of rubbish!!

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

A Few Shots with Shadows do not a Film-Noir make. But it adds a bit of Atmosphere to otherwise Mediocre Melodramas and Crime Procedurals.The Overrated and almost always Stiff Screen Persona of George Raft has Puzzled Modern Film Historians. Competent, but Never Compelling, Likable, or even Very Good He managed a Long and Inconsistent Career Playing, well, George Raft.Ella Raines, She of the Piercing Eyes, is the Dame in this Drama that is Mildly Interesting but hardly Essential Viewing. The Plot Plods at a Mundane Pace and it's Talky and Tepid most of the time. Pat O'Brien gives one of His Better Outings as an Ambiguous Bail Bondsman and Partner of Raft.The Ending is Wrapped in a Neat Little Bow and the Direction and Screenplay are Pedestrian. Worth a Watch, just don't Expect a Solid Film-Noir or anything approaching First Rate.

George Raft, Ella Raines, Pat O'Brien, Jim Backus, and Bill Williams star in "A Dangerous Profession," a 1949 film directed by Ted Tetzlaff.Vince Kane (Raft) is an ex-cop who now works as a bail bondsman with his friend Joe Farley (O'Brien). A detective, Nick Ferrone (Backus) arrests Claude Brackette (Williams) a suspect in a robbery during which a police officer was killed. Kane finds out that Brackette's wife is none other than his old girlfriend, Lucy (Raines).Lucy wants her husband out on bail. She believes he's innocent. The bail is set at $25,000, and she only has $4,000. Still angry over their breakup, and the fact that he didn't know she was married when they were together, Kane shows her the door. Then a mystery man gives Kane $12,000 toward the bail. Vince puts the company's money over the objection of his partner.Vince thinks that an associate of Brackette's, a nightclub owner, was the brains behind the robbery. Kane poses as a crook, something that his demeanor lends itself to, and blackmails McKay to see if he can find out if he's guilty.Fairly routine, with Raft his usual dapper and smooth self. This plot gets a little convoluted, probably due to edits. Not the best, but if you like Raft and the lovely Ella Raines, you'll enjoy it. Bill Williams played Kit Carson on TV and married to Barbara Hale, TV's Della Street on Perry Mason, for 46 years, until his death. He's the father of actor William Katt, and there's quite a resemblance.

I wouldn't exactly call this a noir, although it is a hardboiled detective yarn. It reminded me of The Big Sleep mainly because of its rambling story line. Raft is no Bogart and Ella Raines is no Bacall. His stiff delivery gets tiring after you realize he really doesn't have anything interesting to say. Her sultriness falls far short of what's required for the role of bad girl. And her hair is incredibly awful. The photography was above par. When the character of Lucy is introduced in the story, you just see the back of her hat. Then there's a close-up, and well, it's just Ella Raines. The script is a lot of yak, some of it's kinda good, but it's still mainly a yakfest. I gave-up after 55 minutes.

A career police detective turned bail bondsman (George Raft) meets his ex-flame (Ella Raines) (he knows it's her because of the scent of the perfume that's in her and her husband's hotel room which he and detective Jim Backus search) in a fairly intricate story about her husband (Bill Williams) whose arrested for suspicion of killing a cop and then bailed out by Raft, against the wishes of his partner (Pat O'Brien). Why he's bailed out and who actually comes up with sufficient money to get him out of jail make for interesting viewing. As well, Ella Raines hits some of her more sultry looking scenes in this movie, which may not be the best movie she's ever been in, but still percolates along more than acceptably, especially when the real killer emerges as the sharp little film heads out of LA and into a convenient canyon.